The main vocalist of the South Korean boy band BTS is on cloud nine.
The 26-year-old singer is commemorating a new accomplishment for his first solo single, “Seven,” featuring Latto, which broke numerous chart and streaming records in a rather unique way by being ARMY’s favorite foodie as he enjoys some of the popular Korean delicacies off his Spotify Billion Streams Plate, which has gotten a lot of attention from his loyal fans.
On Monday (Dec. 18), Spotify’s Instagram account posted the much-awaited “The Spotify Billions Club” video featuring Jungkook with their 10.9 million followers. The video was shot and produced by OBB Pictures, the film, TV, and digital division of OBB Media, and has accumulated more than 2 million likes, within a few hours.
The interview was released in honor of his collaboration track becoming the fastest song in streaming platform history to reach 1 billion streams by achieving the record in 108 days since it was first released.
In the same clip, the singer was seen reminiscing details of the song’s inception while also enjoying some of his favorite snacks by filling his Billion Streams plaque with each of the seven food items, including soy sauce eggs, banana milk, tuna kimbap, shrimp crackers, turtle chips, japchae, and castella. His preferred snacks come across as a sweet honor to the milestone and seemingly fit the title “Seven” of the song, which his fans were also quick to notice.
For context, the single debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, the Global 200, and the Global Excl. US charts. On the other hand, in Japan, with only three days of availability, “Seven” debuted at number two on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart.
Due to this, the single eventually became the fastest song in history to surpass 1 billion streams on Spotify, making him the first Korean solo artist to do so. In addition to this, his follow-up single “3D,” featuring Jack Harlow, debuted at number five on both the Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart, making Jungkook the first South Korean solo artist to achieve two consecutive top-five entries on the latter.
Watch the full interview below:
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The comment section of the post is filled with heartwarming congratulations, with one user commenting, “No Asian, K-pop act or K-soloist, FASTEST SONG in history and Jungkook drank his banana milk on it. Organic hit, seven-song of the year.” A second one wrote, “Most successful soloist in history, the biggest one Jungkook.” A third fan wrote, “Very proud of our main pop boy! The fastest song in history to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify.”
Furthermore, Latto, 24, even sent in a thank you clip to Jungkook for putting her on the song and allowing her to “make history” with him as the song marked her first number-one hit on the Hot 100 as well as on the Billboard Global 200.
“Producer Bang Si-Hyuk sent a song to me to listen. It was so great. I thought, “this is such an amazing song, what if I mess it up?” Jung Kook said in the interview.
“I wasn’t working on an album, but after listening to ‘Seven,’ I came out of a break. We rushed to record the music, shoot the music videos, and album photos. Since ARMY have been waiting for so long, we worked very fast.” He continued, “Because I felt the song needed a rapper — Latto has a great voice and cool presence — so, we reached out to her and everything worked out.”
Globally, “Seven” has set two Guinness World Records: for the Most streamed track on Spotify in one week (male) and the Fastest time for a music track to reach 100 million streams on Spotify (male).
Described as an “invigorating summer song, “Seven” was released through Big Hit Music, and it was produced by Andrew Watt and Cirkut, who co-wrote it with Jon Bellion, Latto, and Theron Makiel Thomas. The song is a romantic UK garage pop track, and lyrically, “Seven” is described as a romantic serenade about wanting to spend every moment of every day with one’s lover. The explicit version’s lyrics express a more sexual desire.
An explicit version was also released and later included in Jungkook’s debut studio album, Golden. At last, the singer also released an accompanying music video, directed by Bradley & Pablo, which features South Korean actress Han So-hee as the girlfriend. The video chronicles an entire week (about the song’s lyrics). The video depicts Jungkook comedically attempting to win back Han’s affection, often to her annoyance.
Check out the entire music video below:
On November 22, 2023, Big Hit announced through Weverse that Jungkook, along with bandmates RM, Jimin, and V, had started the enlistment process to carry out his mandatory military service. “We would like to inform our fans that RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook have initiated the military enlistment process,” read the statement. Further adding, “The artists are preparing to fulfill their military service duties. We will inform you of further updates in due course.”
In addition to this, the Associated Press also noted that RM and V’s official service began a day before Jimin and Jungkook, who were expected to report for duty on December 12, 2023.
Most recently, the beloved singer, along with all six other members, was seen together in a photo shared by J-Hope on Instagram, with the caption simply stating, “Time is flying !!! Ouch!!! 💜” We would also like to highlight that it is understood that the seven members will get back together after completing their duties and continue being a part of BTS after they’ve completed their military services. As of writing this, the popular boy band is expected to get back on the stage together in 2025.
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